Chapter 100: Goodbye to routine

"Do you know where the army is going to set up their camp?" Boran asked after a few seconds of silence.

"No, but I think I will be alright," Eldrian replied, not knowing how to say that he would follow according to updates on the forum.

"That isn't good enough. Come with me."

Following behind Boran, Eldrian was quickly led to the second floor. The first room being a shop room similar to the first floor, with many beautiful items on display. Walking through this room Eldrian asked what the difference was between these and those on the first floor.

"This is where all the magic grade items are kept. Normally only veterans or nobles would enter this room. The prices are not something everyone can afford." Boran had answered as he led Eldrian through the room to the next part of the building.

While walking through the glamorous weapons on display, Eldrian managed to read a few of the prices. Leaving him flabbergasted. The cheapest weapon he saw was a dagger costing 18 gold. While the most expensive was a suit of armor costing over 200 gold.

"Why are there so many items on display?" Eldrian asked, feeling that for that price buying a random item was not worth it. Sure they were great quality, but custom ordering should be better. Considering the cost.

"These are either practice items made while someone was learning, or orders which fell through. It does not make sense to simply get rid of them, so we sell them here. They are far cheaper than custom orders."

"But, how much cheaper?" Eldrian asked, finding it hard to believe something so expensive was considered cheap.

"Well, normally at least 10%, and that is if the customer had minor requests only. Many people do prefer simply buying a pre-made weapon. It also means they don't have to wait weeks for the order to be finished."

'Well the later part makes more sense.' Eldrian mumbled as he entered through a door, leading him into a forking hallway. Following behind Boran he entered the middle hallway of the fork, passing many doors while heading towards another flight of stairs.

"What are all these rooms for?" They reminded him of a university residence's small rooms.

"Accommodation for the workers. If you want you can actually stay here too. Well the next floor, this one is for the shopkeepers, helpers and shop learners. The third floor is for actual blacksmiths and their apprentices."

"I will keep that in mind." Eldrian replied as he looked around. Glad that he had a place to go if he ever was kicked out of the magic tower.

Arriving on the next floor Eldrian immediately found himself in a communal area, which split like a star into four hallways. Following Boran into one of the hallways he soon entered Boran's room.

The room was far larger than he had expected it to be. Boran's room consisted living room, dining room and kitchen as the entrance room. There being three doors connecting to this open-spaced room and a balcony on the far side of the rooms.

Boran led Eldrian towards the balcony, his desk right next to the balcony door. An empty birdcage next to the desk and many scattered drawings over the desk.

"Here we are." Boran declared after some fiddling inside his desk's lowest drawer, pulling out a thick folded piece of paper.

Boran took this piece and started unfolding it on the desk, soon it covered the entire desk. Even hanging over the sides of the desk.

"This is a map of Phallos. Let me explain the general layout." Boran said, starting to explain to Eldrian what the symbols on the map represented. After Boran explained everything, Eldrian received a system notification.

[Map of Phallos discovered.]

[Map discovered is classified as a wide overview map]

[Unlocked terrain and city locations, as well as major towns.]

[Villages and city layouts not included]

Reading the messages Eldrian was quite happy, while trying not to miss what Boran was saying as he continued on explaining stuff.

"According to my information, the border camp is going to be made here." Boran pointed towards a location located between two rivers. He explained to Eldrian that they planned to settle between the two, next to the right side river. Hoping that the rivers would make transport easier.

For this reason, Eldrian simply had to find the start of the river and he would be able to follow it to the camp. After Boran finished this Eldrian got another system message, stating that a temporary camp location had been added.

"Thank you Boran. This will help a great deal." Eldrian said, looking at his system generated map. While the start of the river was a good distance away, easily over a 100 kilometers, Eldrian felt much better knowing how to find them even if he was late.

This would also solve his hydration problem, seeing as this world did not have common containers to store water in. Sure there were barrels and water sacks, but they weren't close to as easy to use as simple bottles.

Eldrian still planned to ask Boran if he could take a barrel of water. Feeling that it was better to be on the safe side.

"Hopefully this will help you not get lost." Boran said as he folded the map again and offered it to Eldrian.

"That isn't necessary. I already have it... Saved?" Eldrian replied, wondering how to explain his system map to Boran. After a bit of thought he simply explained it as similar to the inventory all Chosen had.

While mentioning his inventory Eldrian was reminded of the Alpha's body inside of it. "Boran, I still have the Alpha's body in my inventory. I think it would be better if I can clear my inventory, do you have any suggestions as to how I can do this?" Eldrian hopped to not have almost half his inventory taken by it since he expected to get much more from this mission.

"I think the best would be to harvest it, but that would take a few hours."

"I guess it can't be helped..." Eldrian sighed, feeling that he would only be able to get going by the time night set.

"Before we go back down I need to give you the sword. You are still planning to take it to Vivian, right?" Boran asked, after getting a nod in reply he disappeared into one of the doors of his flat. After a few minutes coming back out with the sword wrapped in cloth.

Taking the sword Eldrian was curious about its stats, yet as soon as he wished to equip it the system asked him if he wanted to soulbond the weapon to him. Promptly declining this option Eldrian placed it into his inventory. He could still try to Observe or Inspect which Dave had also given him, but he had not had the time to learn them yet. They were respectively a Tier 1 skill and spell.

As the sword disappeared into his inventory Eldrian received another system message.

[Delivery quest accepted.]

[Quest Name: Nelida's journey]

[Quest Giver: Boran]

[Quest Rank: C]

[Quest Description: Deliver the crafted sword, Nelida, to Vivian]

[Quest Fail Condition: Losing possession of the sword.]

[Quest Reward: 1 200 XP]

"Alright, now let's go harvest the beast," Boran said after seeing the sword disappear in Eldrian's hands. He still found it insane that every Chosen had that ability.

In the backyard of the shop Boran looked at Eldrian,"Alright, pull it out."

Eldrian nodded and focused on the Alpha inside his inventory. After a bit of a mental tug of war he soon got it out. Far easier than when he had stored it.

Boran whistled when he saw the entire beast lying on the grass. "You weren't kidding, your inventory is really huge!" Walking around the beast Boran started to examine it, explaining to Eldrian as he did.

After around an hour of examination and explanation, they started harvesting it. Eldrian found it really difficult at the start, even with the magical grade knife Boran had given him. With time he learned the correct methods and was able to help Boran more than just observe.

After three hours of work they finished, Eldrian having stored around twenty kilograms of the Alpha's meat for his travel. Yet it left over a 150 kilograms of meat left.

"Boran, you can take the rest of the meat. Will you be able to help me store the important parts?" Eldrian asked, having no clue how the eyes and heart needed to be stored. The claws though he felt were straightforward.

"Sure, I will take the meat as payment. Heck, I actually make a killing with this deal. Now help me carry everything to the storage room."

Eldrian did as asked, finally being finished with the tasks he felt needed to be done before leaving. Heaving a sigh he got ready to greet Boran and set off.

"Alright, I think that is everything. I still have around three hours of light, so I should get going."

"Before you do, take this." Boran gave Eldrian a piece of paper. "I often make items for people from other cities. Normally, in that case, I will send it to them." Boran then explained that had an agreement with this stable, with them always giving a special horse to the person Boran had delivering the item. In this case it was Eldrian.

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it," Boran said, taking Eldrian's hand and pulling him into a hug. "If you feel things turning for the worst. Run. Take Vivian with you and get away. Even if it means deserting the army."

"What?" Eldrian asked in shock, trying to pull out of the hug, Boran keeping him tightly in.

"You might think it is going to go well, but I feel that things are only starting. So if you find the situation helpless. Take Vivian and run."

"But..."

"No! Promise me you will do it! I don't want Vivian to die a helpless death!"

"If you can't manage to rescue her, at least don't let her get taken captive."

Too shocked for words Eldrian simply left after Boran had said this. In a shock he headed to the stable Boran had told him about, wondering what had gotten into Boran by the end.

Does he think we are going to lose? Eldrian did not like that this was something he actually was leaning towards too.